The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
New mineralization discovered outside limits of south pit shell North of 60 Mining News – December 9, 2022
Hole SK-22-1112 cut 16.56 meters averaging 1.86 g/t gold and 88.3 g/t silver in new mineralization below the proposed pit at the 22 Zone on Skeena's Eskay Creek project in Northern BC.
Skeena Resources Ltd. Dec. 6 announced that two holes have tapped gold-silver mineralization below the proposed 22 Zone open pit at the Eskay Creek mine project in British Columbia's Golden Triangle.
A feasibility study published in September details an open pit mine at Eskay Creek expected to produce 2.42 million ounces of gold and 66.7 million oz of silver over an initial nine years of mining based on 29.9 million metric tons of proven and probable reserves averaging 2.99 grams per metric ton (2.87 million oz) gold and 79 g/t (75.5 million oz) silver.
These reserves are contained within two pits roughly 800 meters apart – the main pit and the much smaller south pit at 22 Zone.
Much of Skeena's 2022 drilling focused on testing areas near the proposed open pits that could bolster resources and reserve, which would extend the life of the proposed mine.
This drilling has resulted in expanding mineralization around the main pit, including on the south side toward 22 Zone. In addition, the prospectivity of adding to the near-surface resources near the proposed Eskay Creek pits was demonstrated with one exploratory hole drilled this year that cut 40.67 meters averaging 1.79 g/t gold and 32 g/t silver about 200 meters east of 22 Zone and only about 23 meters below the surface.
The latest round of assays included results from two holes that hit mineralization below the proposed pit at 22 Zone.
Hole SK-22-1112 cut 16.56 meters averaging 1.86 g/t gold and 88.3 g/t silver in new mineralization below the pit and outside the resource area. SK-22-1113, drilled parallel to and just below the pit wall, cut 9.9 meters averaging 1.83 g/t gold and 101.4 g/t silver outside of the resource.
Skeena says the mineralization cut in these two holes, which lies only a few meters outside the existing 2022 feasibility study pit shell, remains open for expansion both down dip and along strike.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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